


The House

by Nyxxie



Series: Adams [4]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Dogmeat is Good Boy, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, Just More Nora and Preston Time, Nora is a Merc, Preston is a Workaholic, Preston is the Minuteman General, Violence and Drugs and that Kind of Stuff, doesn't really go anywhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:35:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22066372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyxxie/pseuds/Nyxxie
Summary: Nora and her boyscout are heading for Diamond City
Relationships: Preston Garvey & Female Sole Survivor
Series: Adams [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1361962
Kudos: 4





	The House

**Author's Note:**

> Another drabble on my Drive that's been kicking around for a bit. 
> 
> Whee. Happy 2020!

Raiders were truly the scum of the earth. Nora didn’t have a weak stomach by any means- her prefered weapon was a fucking baseball bat for shit sakes- but there was a kind of brutality to the actions of raiders that made even her queasy.  
The house that she and Preston had found had had only a few of the fuckheads inside, and they’d obviously been there a while. The place was filthy. Nora had found heads in the ruined fridge and a leg on the BBQ out back, in various states of decay. Preston had audibly retched when they’d entered, the scent of human waste and rotten flesh hitting them in a sick miasma. It was a kind of foul you couldn't wash out of anything for days. Clothes, sinuses, memory.  
Nora kicked the body of a skinny chem head she’d bludgeoned, snorting derisively. “How the hell do people live like this?” She muttered. Preston didn’t answer from his spot near the door. Didn’t seem a lifetime in the commonwealth had numbed her boyscout to it’s horrors.  
She left him with Dogmeat, slipping out of the ruined house to check out the garage. The home might’ve been nice, pre-war, but nowadays it was as brown and sickly as the rest of the world. Full of death. More heads out front on spikes, like grim lawn ornaments, and some actual lawn ornaments in the form of faded, cracked flamingos. Beside the Barbecue, there was a shabby lawn chair with some bourbon and glasses beside it. On her way to the garage, Nora grabbed the bourbon, shoving it in her pack for later. It was getting late, and traveling at night in the Commonwealth is a bad idea as a rule. That, and Preston gets antsy after dusk. If the garage isn’t in bad shape, they’ll set up in there. Better four walls than the open road.  
Drawing her gun, Nora stepped quietly through the side door. The garage didn't reek of death. In fact, it looked like the raiders hadn't touched it, except for a stash of guns and chems near a dirty mattress in between two shelves. A dirty, occupied mattress.  
The raider was like the rest, a ragged chem head, bare arms track marked, eyes sunk into their sockets. She didn't look like much compared to Nora, but maybe that was just the Vaultie’s bias showing. The smaller woman was the product of generations of irradiated survivors and hard wasteland living. However, her pupils were constricted and her response to her visitor sluggish. She was high, Med-X syringes laying all around her in little heaps. Explained why she hadn’t come running when her friends had been turned into bug food.  
“The fuck-” The raider jerked into motion, hand going for a pipe pistol. Nora’s own .10 mm and clear head beat her though, a bullet spattering the chem heads brains against the wall and the mattress. The pipe pistol clatters to the ground, and the body slumps into the syringes.  
The gunshot brought Dogmeat and Preston running. The minuteman looked a bit panicked, musket in hand while he looked from dead raider to his companion.  
“You okay?” He demanded. Poor boyscout still looked a little green around the gills, Nora noted.  
“Fine.” Nora replied, holstering her gun and setting her pack down. “Think this is a good place to make camp?” She asked, carefully maneuvering around the needles to pull the corpse up.  
“I guess.” Preston relaxed a little, putting his musket away so he could help her. The Minuteman gingerly kicked an empty syringe away. “You, uh, got that handled, I’ll clean up everything else.”  
Nora nodded, throwing the skinny body over her leather armoured shoulder. She figured one more body in the house wouldn’t make a difference, though she did worry the stench would attract things; Yao guai, mongrels, even Deathclaws if they were especially unlucky.  
The early dusk made everything eerie. She still wasn’t used to this quiet world. There’d always been the city she’d been born in, or the Army. Always some kind of man made noise. Cars, planes, people, something. This world after the bombs, though, was a kind of quiet that was jarring.  
She tossed the chem head on the porch, next to a body whose head looked like a caved in cake. Tiny bugs were gathered around them, and the heads out front, buzzing like static. She tried not to look at the swollen, rotting things and walked back to the garage just in time to see Preston shoving the filthy mattress into the corner with a bucket of empty chem containers and an expression of disgust. It promptly faded when he saw her, though.  
“That was quick.” He said.  
“Didn’t want to stay put too long. Getting too dark.” She looked at him, crossing her arms. “You okay? Seem a little queasy.”  
“I’m fine.” He said. “Just, can’t stop smelling it. Or thinking about it.”  
Nora nodded sympathetically. “You up to eat?”  
Preston shook his head, sitting down on the ground. “I think I’ll pass until my stomach settles. Thanks, Nora.”  
Dogmeat wandered over to him, nudging Pres gently before sitting down and smiling a doggy smile at his favourite Vault dweller.  
“I’ll finish setting up.” Nora said. “Can’t let the General do all the work now can we?”  
—-  
Nora took first watch, pulling up some of the board on the garages window and peering out of the dirty glass into the world outside. Behind her, she could hear Preston and Dogmeat breathing, a rhythm that she found comforting. It reminded her of nights at home, Nate on one side of the bed and Shaun in between them after a difficult night.  
She missed it, quite a bit. She hoped what she and Valentine had found out would actually bear fruit, and she could find her baby at last.  
She hadn’t told Preston yet, and out of all her odd little group he was one of the ones she wanted to tell the most.  
She sighed, settling in for a long watch. She’d let Preston rest a bit. From what she’d heard around the Castle, he’d been working pretty tirelessly the past few weeks, and he’d certainly looked it. The Castle had been a project for the Minutemen ever since Nora, Pres and the rest of their ragtag little militia had exterminated the mirelurk infestation. And when Nora had gotten word from Diamond City about a lead, she’d left Garvey with far too much unsupervised work time. Back at Sanctuary, Sturges had been the one to harass Preston into getting sleep, and when Pres had left the chore had mostly fallen to Nora. Who really only slept well on her couch, after a couple drinks.  
They were a fine pair.  
When she’d arrived at the Fort, Ronnie Shaw had damn near thrown their general at Nora with the heavy indication that he needed to get out of there for a bit. Nora wasn't going to argue after she saw the bags under Preston’s eyes.  
And here they are.  
She hadn’t realized she’d started drowsing until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She tensed, ready to kill whoever it belonged to before she realized it was Pres. He withdrew, looking apologetic.  
“Hey. Sorry, Nora. Didn’t realize how out you were.”  
“Not too bad. You’re still standing.” She sighed, glancing at her Pip-Boy’s clock. “Up a bit early there, General.”  
He shrugged. “Couldn’t stay asleep. Too busy thinking about the generator upgrades we were working on.”  
“Relax, Garvey.” The Vaultie Said. “You’ll have more to worry about than upgrades by the time we make it back to the city. Get some sleep, huh?”  
“I’m not the one drifting off on watch, Nora.” He said gently. “When’s the last time you actually slept?”  
Oh, sometimes she hated how well he knew her. “D.C.” She said grudgingly.  
“But that’s not the point, Garvey.”  
“Not really.” He said. “Go grab a quick nap, Nora.”  
She considered arguing with him, just because she knew if she tried to sleep it wasn’t going to happen. Not alone, and sober. Maybe snuggling the dog might help.  
Maybe.  
Fuck, she missed sharing a bed.  
She curled up on the roll, Dogmeat wagging ing his tail when she laid down and chuffing. “Hey, buddy.” Nora said quietly, patting the dog gently. She closed her eyes, listening to the dogs breathing and the quiet insect noises outside.  
Somewhere in her drowsy state, Preston started humming tunelessly in the background. Eventually it morphed into that awful music that played on the forts radio station, but beggars can’t be choosers. It was human noise️.  
——  
Breakfast was quick the next day, a little Brahmin jerky and some mutfruit. Preston tossed a piece of meat at the dog, who snatched it out of the air easily. The General smiled, eyes crinkling brightly.  
“Should see if we can get some dogs around the Castle,” Preston said.  
“Yeah.” Nora agreed. “They won’t be Dogmeat, though.”  
“No. He’s one of a kind.”  
Nora was perched by the window again, watching the house like a hawk. She did not want to imagine how rank that place was going to get now, or what it would attract. She just wanted to get out of there before new neighbours moved in.  
“You ready yet, Pres?” She asked. “Wanna head out.”  
“First, I wouldn’t mind knowing what you’re dragging me into, Nora. I was going to ask last night, but…” He trailed off, looking green again.  
“The house.” She said.  
“Yeah.” He agreed.  
Nora nodded. She finished gathering up their stuff, hoisting her pack over her back while Dogmeat nudged Preston’s hand, rumbling softly.  
“So, what made you drag me away from my duties, Nora?” Pres asked, rubbing Dogmeat’s ears.  
“You remember Nick Valentine?”  
“Yeah. The Synth Detective we rescued. He was looking for Shaun.” He said. And then he realized what she was leading up to. He looked really excited all of a sudden, eyes lighting up. “Did he find him?”  
“He has another lead.” She corrected, though she couldn’t help the little curl of hope in her chest. It only lit up a little more when she’d seen how excited he’d been for her. “Shaun was in Diamond City. I’m supposed to meet up with Valentine there, and then we’ll go hunting.”  
“He really found something about Shaun?” Preston said. He sounded pleasantly surprised as they emerged out of their shed. They squinted against the light as Dogmeat zipped ahead, barking happily.  
“Yeah.” Said Nora. “At least he found something again. When Nate would investigate stuff, things sometimes led nowhere, or just not be real. I imagine it can’t be much different now, even with a guy like Valentine.”  
Preston hummed quietly, thinking. “It’ll be something Nora. Valentine wouldn’t have asked you to come if it was nothing. And you wouldn’t have asked me if you actually thought it was nothing, either.”  
“To stop you from working yourself to death? Yes, I would.” Nora said, with a smile. She hoisted her bat over her shoulder, scanning the landscape for any of the normal problem creatures. Bugs, mostly, and mongrels. And then the kind she was worried the dead would attract. It was clear though, the only movement Dogmeat as he sniffed around the BBQ curiously.  
“I’m not working myself to death, Nora.”  
The veteran snorted, striding ahead. “Sure you’re not, Preston.” She said, not hiding her amusement.  
It only took Preston a second to catch up to the Vaulties pace, adjusting his pack with a grimace. They walked side by side down the cracked old road, the dog zipping ahead as they headed towards Diamond City, and what Nora hoped was her baby.


End file.
